By-elections to 10 assembly seats and four Lok Sabha seats, including Kairana constituency began Monday morning. Here are the live updates:

Burqa-clad women, along with other voters, show their voter identity cards as they wait to cast thier votes for Noorpur Assembly bypolls, in Bijnor, on May28, 2018. (PTI)

Bypolls to four Lok Sabha constituencies, including the politically-crucial Kairana, and ten assembly seats in 10 states were held on Monday amid complaints that electronic voting machines were not working at some places.

Besides Kairana in western Uttar Pradesh, where a joint opposition is taking on the BJP, by-elections were held in Bhandara-Gondiya and Palghar parliamentary constituencies in Maharashtra and Nagaland Lok Sabha seat.

Polling was held for assembly seats in RR Nagar in Karnataka; Gomia and Silli constituencies of Jharkhand; Noorpur in Uttar Pradesh; Shahkot in Punjab; Jokihat in Bihar; Chengannur in Kerala; Palus Kadegaon in Maharashtra; Ampati in Meghalaya; Tharali in Uttarakhand and Maheshtala in West Bengal.

8.50pm: “Some VVPAT machines malfunctioned at the time of voting. It was due to scorching heat. We solved the problem by repairing most of them. The machines which could not repaired, were immediately replaced. News of re-polling is wrong,” Abhimanya Kale, district magistrate of Bhandara, tells ANI.

7.10pm: Former Punjab home minister Brij Bhupinder Lalli has been arrested for taking his licensed revolver inside the polling booth in Malsian. Read full story

6.45pm: At least 76% voter turnout recorded in Chenganur assembly constituency of Kerala.

6.05pm: BJP candidate from Kairana, Mriganka Singh tells ANI, “There was massive technical snag in the EVMs and total breakdown of systems. My supporters went back without voting as machines were not working. My party leaders have approached the EC regarding the matter.”

5.52pm: BJP delegation met EC officials in Delhi over reports of malfunctioning in EVMs during by-polls today. BJP’s Arun Singh says, “We told them that we received information that EVMs worked either late or with some issues or didn’t work at all in 197 booths. We have demanded repolling at a few stations.”

5.45pm: “All the electors who are in the queue in the polling booth, at the time of close of voting, should be facilitated to cast their votes. This is given due publicity by the concerned district election machinery in the polling areas,” says the Election Commission.

5.38pm: Bye-election to the lone Lok Sabha seat in Nagaland on Monday witnessed 70% polling, informed state chief electoral office. Of the 12 districts in the state, Kiphire recorded the highest polling with 83% while Peren and Kohima recorded the lowest figures with 60% turnout.

5.24pm: Voter turnout of 89.91% recorded till 5 pm in Meghalaya’s Ampati assembly seat. The office of the Chief Electoral Officer said there were no reports of any trouble or serious malfunctioning of any EVM in the 39 polling stations except one at the beginning when a VVPAT machine developed at glitch at Rongramgre polling station which was immediately rectified.

5.01pm: Shamli district magistrate Vikram Singh tells ANI, “The issues were being faced in VVPAT machines and not EVMs. The problem has been solved now. Some machines have been replaced at some booths. The voting is now running smoothly.”

4.50pm: After a multi-party delegation met the Election Commission over bypolls in Kairana and Noorpur, SP’s RG Yadav told ANI, “We demanded from EC re-polling in places where more than one-and-a-half hours were wasted and extra time after 6 pm for voters in places where less time was wasted so that they can vote.”

4.42pm: More than 43% polling has been recorded till 4pm in the Kairana Lok Sabha constituency while 47% votes polled in the Noorpur assembly constituency.

4.01pm: BJP candidate for the Palghar Lok Sabha seat bypoll demands that the polling time be extended in view of the EVMs malfunctioning in some booths. The poll representative of BJP’s nominee Rajendra Gavit submits a memorandum to election officials in the district, seeking extension of the polling time.

“In many big European nations, election commissions have rejected the EVMs and gone back to ballot paper system. SP leader Akhilesh Yadav just called me up. He also said 300 EVMs not working in Kairana bypoll,” says Patel.

1.12 pm: Technical problems in EVMs and VVPATs clearly indicate failure of EC. If this is the situation in bypolls, think about coming Lok Sabha elections. We’ve said it again and again and other parties have also agreed that elections should be conducted using ballot papers: Anil Desai, Shiv Sena

12.49 pm: Over 21 per cent polling recorded till 11 am in Kairana parliamentary constituency while 22 per cent votes were polled in Noorpur Assembly constituency.

“I’ve been continuously receiving complaints. They didn’t expect so many ppl to come out to vote in Ramzan. Initial strategy was to hold elections in Ramzan so that people won’t vote,” says Hasan after writing to EC.

10.45 am: Samajwadi Party candidate Rajendra Chaudhary alleges, “There are reports that in Noorpur 140 EVMs are faulty, which is because they’ve been tampered, there are similar reports from Kairana. They (BJP) want to avenge defeat in Phulpur and Gorakhpur, which is why they want to defeat us at any cost.”

10.30 am: In Maharashtra, some electorates are being inked on middle finger instead of index by officials to differentiate between them, as Panchayat elections were held in some parts of Palghar on Sunday.

10.12 am: Shahkot assembly bypoll in Punjab: One Control Unit at 216 booth number and three VVPAT machines at booth numbers 169, 170 and 222 replaced during mock poll due to technical snag. Four VVPATs at booth numbers 27, 28, 132 and 45 replaced during actual polling.

10.10 am: 10.20% voting recorded till 9 am in Kairana Lok Sabha seat.

9.54 am: Nagaland has recorded 24% voting till 9 am for the lone Lok Sabha seat in the state.

9.30 am: Voting has not started at polling booth number 170 in Arjun-Morgaon area of Gondiya in Maharashtra due to faulty EVM, reports ANI.

9.20 am: Polling agents of all political parties demand a new Electronic Voting Machines (EVM ) after mock poll at a polling booth in Sarpani was stalled due to faulty EVM, according to news agency ANI.

8.55 am: Voting underway for Shahkot assembly by-election where fate of 12 candidates will be decided.

Congress, Akali Dal and Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) went all out for the high-stakes bypoll necessitated following the death of Akali MLA Ajit Singh Kohar in February this year. The bypoll is being seen as a popularity test of the 14-month-old Congress government.

Kerala: Saji Cherian, Left Democratic Front (LDF) candidate for #Chengannur assembly by-poll arrives at SNDP Lower Primary School polling station in Kozhuvalloor village to cast his vote. pic.twitter.com/HP3rZNiAXG